Etymology

Neologism by Jóhan Hendrik Winther Poulsen of 1984. He was inspired by the Icelandic neologism tölva (a combination of tal and völva), and wanted to replace the older Faroese terms roknari and dátutól (‘computer’, ‘data tool’). He first formed the word teld from tal (‘number’) according to a pattern like many feminine Faroese nouns are formed: tyngd (‘weight’), from tungur (‘heavy’), nøgd (‘plenty’), from nóg (‘enough’), grend (‘neighbourhood’), from granni (‘neighbour’). Thus, teld (‘automatic data processing’), from tal (‘number’). From this teld, Poulsen formed the term for the device for data processing after the pattern in words like ríva (‘rake’), which is like in English both a verb and a noun.^[1]